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by Rohansi8 hours ago |
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upvoteby SoftTalker7 hours ago|
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Interstate highways and local roads are generally unlit outside of urban areas. But in fairness, Waymos don't operate in those places anyway.
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upvoteby triceratops7 hours ago|
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> Roads are usually lit

Not always. Definitely not all freeways.

> And every car has its own lights for seeing where you are driving

Not always far enough. Especially at freeway speeds on unlit freeways.

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upvoteby fidotron7 hours ago|
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So how can humans do it?

If humans don't have lidar but can drive it's an existence proof of the viability of that approach.

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upvoteby triceratops7 hours ago|
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In addition to vision, humans have proprioception and kinesthesia, hearing, inner ear receptors for balance, a sense of touch, sense of smell. We use all of these sensory inputs when we drive. And even then humans get into lots of accidents.

Lidar is superhuman vision.

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upvoteby Rohansi6 hours ago|
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How do you use your sense of smell to help you drive? I can't smell anything outside my car thanks to the air filter.

The real answer is very simple: safe drivers slow down to adapt to poor conditions (including visibility). Lidar might reduce how much it needs to slow down but I don't think it will be eliminated because you can't drive with only lidar.

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upvoteby triceratops6 hours ago|
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> How do you use your sense of smell to help you drive?

I smell smoke before I see it. Useful if there's a forest fire up ahead.

Burning rubber or smoke from the engine is an indicator of a mechanical issue.

> you can't drive with only lidar.

Nobody said you could. This is a strawman.

Tesla stans are the only ones trying to convince everyone you can only drive with cameras. Everyone else is pretty united on the usefulness of multiple inputs.

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upvoteby Rohansi4 hours ago|
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> Nobody said you could. This is a strawman.

Didn't mean it in that way. I meant a car with camera+lidar would realistically still slow down because of the reduced camera visibility.

> Tesla stans are the only ones trying to convince everyone you can only drive with cameras. Everyone else is pretty united on the usefulness of multiple inputs.

Ignore them. The latest Model S and X have radar again, but possibly unused right now, so they are probably going to roll that out in a refresh of the 3 and Y eventually.

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upvoteby bryanlarsen7 hours ago|
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Humans can't do it safely during a proper blizzard. (Toronto doesn't really get proper blizzards, though).
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upvoteby 8 hours ago|
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